Douluo Continent, Heaven Dou Imperial City.
The place had just weathered a great battle—a ridiculous coup.
Then, during the retreat, one of the battle's protagonists was swept away by an unknown force.
Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupinefish Douluo sensed something was wrong at the same time and began searching everywhere.
"Young master..."
"Young master, where are you?"
The two called out repeatedly, completely unaware that a pitch-black screen had suddenly opened in the gloomy sky.
The screen seemed poised to show something. As the image unfolded, half the people on Douluo Continent noticed it.
Time and space had shifted by twenty thousand years.
Elsewhere, in Heaven Dou City, inside a sealed laboratory belonging to the Sun Moon Federation, a young man who looked to be about eighteen was bent over his work.
His lean frame was set off by a dark red lab coat. With black hair and eyes, he held a syringe steady between his fingertips, carrying out an almost deranged experiment—creating an artificial Soul Master.
Once he succeeded in breaking through, he would attempt to create an artificial Soul King, an artificial Soul Emperor, and even an artificial Titled Douluo.
His name was Yin Hongye, and he was a transmigrator. He was now trying to turn ordinary people with not a trace of Soul Power into Soul Masters qualified to fight and cultivate.
The transparent serum slowly seeped through the thin tube and into the test subject's arm.
The young man lowered his eyes, his fingers applying steady pressure.
"Hold on. Once this dose is in, you'll no longer be a helpless mortal."
The person on the reclining chair tensed all over, his teeth chattering. "It hurts... It feels like my bones are about to explode."
"Transformation means having your bones stripped and your blood replaced. Endure it, and you'll have a path to becoming a Soul Master." The young man's voice was calm, but his eyes concealed a fanatical obsession. "The world shouldn't accept that some people are born with more Soul Power than others. I'm going to create a world where everyone can cultivate."
The syringe reached the bottom, and all the serum was injected. The test subject convulsed violently, while the laboratory equipment hummed and shuddered.
Yin Hongye bent over the recording table, his pen racing across the page as he logged a series of cold figures: heart rate, meridian fluctuations, and serum integration, item by item.
The test subject's violent tremors gradually eased. His tightly clenched limbs relaxed, and heavy panting filled the laboratory.
He reached for the Soul Power Sensor on the other man's wrist. The number was fixed firmly at the tenth-level mark.
It worked. He did it!
The Federation's first successful test subject.
The man slowly opened his eyes. His cheeks had sunk in, his skin clung to his cheekbones, and his frame had grown visibly gaunt. The serum had forcibly drained away a portion of his vitality.
He looked as though an Evil Soul Master had tortured him.
"So this is Soul Power? At my age, I still have a chance to become a Soul Master?"
"Level ten. That's the standard for absorbing a first Soul Ring." Yin Hongye put away his notebook, its pages densely covered in writing. "The price is a loss of vitality. Later recuperation can only make up for a small part of it."
"It seems to damage the soul, too... This... will probably only let you absorb a ten-year Soul Spirit. It can't be extended."
Yin Hongye buried himself in comparing the data, his mind wholly absorbed in working through the experiment. The space behind him suddenly twisted and shuddered, and a figure crashed heavily to the floor.
Golden hair and a gilded crown; broad, gilded wings burst open behind her. Her close-fitting white-and-gold battle suit was woven with faint purple patterns, its fitted waist accentuating her tall, straight figure. Segmented gold-patterned boots landed firmly on the ground, while white gauze over a black lining fluttered in the wind. The golden Sacred Sword in her hand was wrapped in a heavy Holy Light, its sacred, keen presence pressing down on them.
This was Qian Renxue, who had never become a god.
She glanced at the test subject bound to the equipment, barely clinging to life, and immediately concluded that the youth in dark red before her was a Fallen Soul Master who preyed on ordinary people.
She leveled her holy sword, and its sacred pressure filled the entire laboratory.
"Brazen Fallen Soul Master! How dare you torture ordinary citizens!"
Yin Hongye looked up, a metal-tipped recording pen still pinched between his fingers. "Which member of the Yue Family are you? How did you get into my laboratory? Believe me, I'll go straight to your clan leader!"
"Fallen Soul Master, what are you talking about? What Yue Family? Who are they?"
Qian Renxue wasted no more words and thrust her Sacred Sword at him. Yin Hongye dodged to the side, confusion in his eyes. He truly had no idea how this woman had appeared.
His mental strength couldn't compare to those old monsters, but there was no way he wouldn't notice someone this weak.
Had Chen Xinjie sent her over again? Were those people insane? Now they were sending someone who was insane, too.
"Are you out of your mind? Get out of here before I lose my temper!"
"Out of my mind? You Fallen Soul Master, I'll kill you!" Qian Renxue shouted.
The sword flashed toward him again. Yin Hongye finally lost his temper. Red light flared in his black eyes as he swung his dark red coat, and his Martial Soul appeared in an instant—
It was a Hellfire Crimson Lotus, slowly blooming in midair. Its crimson petals unfurled in layers, each burning with dark red flames that could incinerate all things. An eerie red glow danced at the lotus's heart. Waves of scorching heat surged outward from him, and the temperature in the entire laboratory shot up. Glassware groaned under the unbearable heat.
Two swords, born alongside his Martial Soul, floated at his sides, radiating boundless killing intent.
Soul Rings rose one after another.
All nine Soul Rings were blood-red.
Qian Renxue's sword stopped in midair.
She stared at those nine Soul Rings, her pupils contracting.
A Fallen Soul Master at the Titled Douluo level? And he wasn't staying in Slaughter City? How many people had he killed to reach this level?
"Who gave you the nerve to act more arrogantly than a Seven-Ring Soul Sage like you could against me, a Titled Douluo?" Yin Hongye's voice had turned icy.
Above them, the image on the Heavenly Screen suddenly synchronized.
Twenty thousand years earlier, Spirit City.
Qian Daoliu walked out of the Worship Hall and looked up to see his granddaughter on the Heavenly Screen. Then his gaze fell on the Soul Rings beneath Yin Hongye's feet—
Nine blood-red Soul Rings.
The old man froze on the steps. This Soul Ring configuration could only mean he'd taken part in a Divine Examination. Yes, that had to be it.
In the laboratory, Qian Renxue kept her hand on her sword, but her knuckles had gone white.
"You... who exactly are you?"
"Who do you think I am?"
"Are you really a Fallen Soul Master?"
"Fallen Soul Master? That's an old-fashioned term from two thousand years ago." Only then did Yin Hongye notice the strange way the golden-haired girl had phrased it.
The term had disappeared twenty thousand years ago. How could anyone still be using it?
He stepped forward. His nine Soul Rings trembled lightly, and the laboratory's lights burst one after another, raining shards of glass onto the floor.
"My name is Yin Hongye. I'm just an ordinary researcher."
"And you? Who are you, and why did you come here?"
Qian Renxue fell silent for a moment. Her gaze wandered over her surroundings, and she realized that the place truly was completely different from the world she knew.
"My name is Qian Renxue. Where exactly is this?"
At the mention of Qian Renxue's name, the laboratory fell strangely quiet.
Yin Hongye froze for a moment, then suddenly found it utterly ridiculous. "Qian Renxue? Are you sure that's your name?"
"Yes. Do you know me?"
"The Qian Renxue from Spirit Hall?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're actually pretending to be someone who died twenty thousand years ago right in front of me? The history books don't record exactly when you died, but they make it clear that Sea God Tang San grievously wounded you. You were no longer a god. Spirit Hall was gone, too."
"Some say you died at Jialing Pass. Others say you lived out your days in the mountains under an assumed name. Either way, you're dead."
At those words, Qian Renxue's pupils trembled, and the people of Spirit Hall from twenty thousand years ago were shaken as well.
"Hahaha! It's a good thing Spirit Hall is gone."
Only Bibi Dong felt a strange excitement deep in her heart, along with a touch of inexplicable sorrow.
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